The naked truth of the Linda Lovelace story, an abused woman who left her abuser, is powerful stuff

The Linda Lovelace story is complex: it's not just a flat documentation of the
horrors of porn, nor is it a triumphant explosion of sexual culture into the
mainstream. Dr Brooke Magnanti looks at the powerful narrative of the Deep
Throat star's life ahead of Lovelace's release this month.

The dramatisation ofLinda Lovelace's porn career hits the big screens this month, reigniting a discussion about whether the porn industry has really changed since Lovelace's 1970s heyday.

For many potential viewers, with so much porn on tap these days, looking back at what the industry was like in the 70s must be like archaeology. People actually went to cinemas to view these movies? What's with all the lame and protracted plotting? There was an international uproar over oral sex?

Lovelace, who was later known asLinda Boreman, eventually left the industry and went public with claims of violent abuse and manipulation at the hands of the ex who masterminded her career. The discussion over Linda's participation in Deep Throat highlights one of the most important things in sex work: that it's impossible to know from the surface what the people inside it are thinking.

Is a particular bit of porn ethical or not? It's a little bit like clothes. You can't tell, from looking at a shirt, whether it was made ethically. You need to know about the manufacturer. You need to know more. Assuming that because something looks glossy and expensive it must be 'better' is a dangerous thing to do and ultimately damages any people who may have been harmed in the making of the product.

Take for example the recent debate over 'banning rape porn'. Now, Deep Throat is very tame by today's standards, but according to Linda Boreman, depicts her being raped. Meanwhile there are actresses who do very extreme scenes, but fully consent to participating in them. So the law would come down on the simulated rape, while the actual one would probably pass muster? That's madness.

People have since debated her version of events, but if even one tenth of what Linda Boreman wrote was true, then it is still shocking. I can't even dance around hinting at the details here – they just wouldn't be suitable for this site.

I first read her memoir Ordeal when I was at school, and was stunned not only by the extreme violence she recounts but also the names she names – after all, as Linda Lovelace, she hobnobbed with celebrities, all of whom could have been potential witnesses to her abuse.

The irony though is that while Boreman said Deep Throat shows her being raped, the fame she gained when the film went massive was the catalyst to her escape from an abusive relationship. (Her ex in his turn had liberated her from abusive and highly religious parents … boxes within boxes.) Without the platform of being Linda Lovelace, her story would perhaps have turned out a little different from the many people who find themselves manipulated into bad situations and never escape.

Phoenixes and ashes come to mind. Or more prosaically, lemons and lemonade.

And thankfully the film, whichhad Lindsay Lohan (pictured) attached to play the lead, ended up with Amanda Seyfried in the role. Lohan, while a potentially good actress, nonetheless brings an aura of drama to any of her parts that would have eclipsed the true story behind the script.

Boreman's story is complex. It is not what either side claims it to be. It is not just the flat documentation of the horrors of porn, nor is it the triumphant explosion of sexual culture into the mainstream.

The narrative of an abused woman who leverages a less-than-ideal situation to leave her abuser is a powerful one. It easy to look in from the outside and say 'I would never put up with that' – well, no one knows for sure until they've been there. And for many people in such a situation, they find that the strength to get up and leave has to be mustered again and again as they fight rumour, misrepresentation, and vindictive exes. This is as true for people in the public eye as those with more private lives.

The anti-porn movement seized on her story without providing the good support structure necessary to moving on with her life. Objectifying her, really. Was it much different from what she had been experiencing her entire life?